The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

that specializes in

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads.

History

Background

With the coming of the bicycle in the 1890s, interest grew regarding the improvement of streets and roads in America. The traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. In 1893, the federal Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was founded; in 1905, it was renamed the Office of Public Roads (OPR) and made a division of the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and modernize dirt roads designed for horse-drawn wagon traffic. In 1910, the American Association for Highway Improvement was organized. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, as well as state aid. By 1914, there were 2.4 million miles of rural dirt rural roads; 100,000 miles had been improved with grading and gravel, and 3,000 miles were given high-quality surfacing. The rapidly increasing speed of automobiles, and especially trucks, made maintenance and repair high-priority items. In 1915, OPR's name was changed to the Bureau of Public Roads. The following year, federal aid was first made available to improve post roads and promote general commerce: $75 million over five years, issued through the BPR in cooperation with the state highway departments. In 1939, BPR was renamed to the Public Roads Administration (PRA) and shifted to the

Federal Works Agency The Federal Works Agency (FWA) was an Regulatory agency, independent agency of the federal government of the United States which administered a number of public construction, building maintenance, and public works relief functions and laws from 1939 ...

. After the FWA was abolished in 1949, the organization was once again named the Bureau of Public Roads; it was placed under the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...

. From 1917 through 1941, 261,000 miles of highways were built with $3.17 billion in federal aid and $2.14 billion in state and local funds.

Creation

The Federal Highway Administration was created on October 15, 1966, along with the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety and the National Highway Safety Bureau (now known as

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation, focused on automobile safety regulations. NHTSA is charged with writing and enforcing Feder ...

), as part of the new

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

. The FHWA took over the functions of the Bureau of Public Roads the following year.

Functions

The FHWA's role in the Federal-aid Highway Program is to oversee federal funds to build and maintain the National Highway System (primarily

Interstate highways The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

, U.S. highways and most state highways). This funding mostly comes from the federal gasoline tax and mostly goes to state departments of transportation. The FHWA oversees projects using these funds to ensure that federal requirements for project eligibility, contract administration and construction standards are adhered to. Under the Federal Lands Highway Program (sometimes called "direct fed"), the FHWA provides highway design and construction services for various federal land-management agencies, such as the Forest Service and the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. The FLHP also jointly administers the

Indian Reservation Roads Program The Indian Reservation Roads Program (IRR) is part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and is meant to meet the transportation needs of American Indians in the United States, American Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. These roads, also known ...

. In addition to these programs, the FHWA performs and sponsors research in the areas of roadway safety, congestion, highway materials and construction methods, and provides funding to local technical assistance program centers to disseminate research results to local highway agencies. The FHWA also publishes the '' Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'' (MUTCD), which is used by most highway agencies in the United States. The MUTCD provides such standards as the size, color and height of

traffic sign Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduc ...

traffic signals Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

and

road surface marking Road surface marking is any kind of device or material that is used on a road surface in order to convey official information; they are commonly placed with road marking machines (also referred to as road marking equipment or pavement marking eq ...

Programs

Long-Term Pavement Performance Program

Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) is a program supported by the FHWA to collect and analyse road data. The LTPP program was initiated by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council (NRC) in the early 1980s. The FHWA with the cooperation of the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway A highway is any public or private road ...

(AASHTO) sponsored the program. As a result of this program, the FHWA has collected a huge database of road performance. The FHWA and the ASCE hold an annual contest known as

LTPP International Data Analysis Contest The LTPP International Data Analysis Contest or the LTPP Data Analysis Contest is an annual international data analysis contest held by the American Society of Civil Engineers and Federal Highway Administration. As the name suggests, the participan ...

, which is based on challenging researchers to answer a question based on the

LTPP Long-Term Pavement Performance Program, known as LTPP, is a research project supported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to collect and analyze pavement data in the United States and Canada. Currently, the LTPP acquires the largest ro ...

data.

Every Day Counts initiative

In 2010, FHWA launched the Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative to identify and deploy innovations to reduce project delivery time, enhance safety, and protect the environment. EDC is a state-based model that rapidly deploys proven, yet underutilized innovations. FHWA works with State transportation departments, local governments, tribes, private industry, and other stakeholders to identify a new collection of innovations to champion every two years that merit accelerated deployment. Among the approaches promoted by the EDC effort are:

adaptive traffic control Adaptive traffic control system (ATCS) is a Transportation demand management, traffic management strategy in which Traffic light, traffic signal timing changes, or adapts, based on actual traffic demand. This is accomplished using an adaptive tra ...

to reduce

fuel consumption A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

and improve

travel time reliability Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...

;

alternative intersection An intersection or an at-grade junction is a junction where two or more roads converge, diverge, meet or cross at the same height, as opposed to an interchange, which uses bridges or tunnels to separate different roads. Major intersections ar ...

design; prefabricated bridge elements and systems; high-friction surface treatments; warm mix asphalt; ultra-high-performance concrete; virtual public involvement; and time-saving strategies such as

rapid bridge replacement Rapid bridge replacement or accelerated bridge construction (ABC) is a technique that allows bridges to be replaced with minimum disruption to traffic. The replacement bridge is constructed on a site near the bridge to be replaced. When it is comp ...

. Since the inception of EDC, each state has used 26 or more of the 57 innovations and some states have deployed more than 45. Many of these practices have become mainstream practices across the country.

Organization

The Federal Highway Administration is overseen by an administrator appointed by the

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

by and with the consent of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. The administrator works under the direction of the Secretary of Transportation and Deputy Secretary of Transportation. The internal organization of the FHWA is as follows:
Office of Administration

Office of Chief Counsel

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Office of Civil Rights

Office of Federal Lands Highway

Office of Infrastructure

Office of Innovation and Workforce Solutions

Office of Operations

Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty

Office of Policy and Government Affairs

Office of Public Affairs

Office of Research, Development, and Technology

Office of Safety

Administrators

The following persons served as the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration or one of its predecessors:

Deputy administrators

* D. Grant Mickle October 27, 1961 – January 20, 1964 * Lowell K. Bridwell (acting) January 20, 1964 – March 23, 1967 * Ralph Bartelsmeyer August 10, 1970 – January 25, 1974 * Joseph R. Coupal Jr September 30, 1974 – 1977 * Karl S. Bowers June 5, 1977 – August 3, 1978 * John S. Hassell, Jr. August 31, 1978 – July 11, 1980 * Alinda Burke August 8, 1980 – ? * Lester P. Lamm September 17, 1982 – 1986 * Robert E. Farris August 8, 1986 - June 8, 1988 * Eugene R. McCormick June 30, 1989 - ? * Gloria J. Jeff December 19, 1997 – January 3, 1999 * Walter Sutton Jr (acting) January 3, 1999 – May 3, 2000 May 3, 2000 – January 2001 * J. Richard Capka August 5, 2002 – May 31, 2006 * Kerry O'Hare November 10, 2008 – January 20, 2009 * Gregory G. Nadeau July 8, 2009 – July 30, 2014 * Brandye Hendrickson July 24, 2017 – July 19, 2019 *

Mala Parker Mala may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mala (Amazon), an Amazon from Wonder Woman's side of the DC Universe * Mala (Kryptonian), a villain from Superman's corner of the DC Universe Films and television * ''Mala'' (19 ...

October 10, 2019 – January 20, 2021 * Stephanie Pollack January 27, 2021 – February 1, 2023 * Andrew Rogers February 27, 2023 – January 2024 * Kristin White May 20, 2024 – December 16, 2024 * Gloria Shepherd (acting) December 17, 2024 – ''Incumbent''

Executive directors

*Lester P. Lamm, August 8, 1973 – ? *Thomas D. Everett, October 22, 2018 – June 30, 2022 *Mayela Sosa (Acting), June 30, 2022 - October 20, 2022 *Gloria M. Shepherd, October 20, 2022 - Current

Notes

References

External links

*
Federal Highway Administration
in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the government gazette, official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every wee ...

Federal-Aid Highways
account on

USAspending.gov USAspending.gov is a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a ...

Highway Infrastructure Programs
account on USAspending.gov
Records of the Federal Highway Administration
(Record Group 406) in the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

{{authority control United States Department of Transportation agencies Government agencies established in 1967